The Church of the Aspect
The Church of the Aspect is the largest Octean church with around 70 million members. As one of the most powerful religious organizations in the world.it has shaped the politics of the Southern lands for more than a thousand years. It is headed by the High Saint who rules the church from the city of Pidchseck. It is based on the Holy Vedana which contains only the original teachings of Atherian, the first High Saint and prophet, who created the Church of the Eight 1500 years ago. The followers of the Church of the Aspect are known as aspectors. History The Church of the Aspect was born during the Great Northern Schism where the Church of the Eight and the Church of the Aspect split from each other. The Church of the Aspect went back to the basic teachings of Atherian that had become lost with the added writings of each new High Saint. The schism was also on a deeper level about who held power in the world. The Church of the Aspect view was that the power of God was reflected through the aspects and thus the Church itself was what held the power. While the Church of the Eight Saints believed that the power of god was reflected in the chosen bloodlines of the Telaran nobility thus the power rested with the Kings of the remaining Temurid Empire. Organization The church follows an episcopal polity, an hierarchical structure where the chief local authority is the bishop who has received the Ordaining of the Eight. There are three levels of local clergy the bishop that handles all of the administrative aspects of church as well as having a more direct connection to the Aspect they have chosen to follow. Then there are the priests # Aspect of Farming - The priests of plenty handle all things associated with plenty from money to good crop growth. They are taught from the day they join how to add up numbers and how to farm. They produce most of the food that the church gives out in charity events and are responsible for its economy. Fully ordained priests of this aspect usually either stay at their particular church to grow the crops or travel around helping peasants out with monetary maters and giving them advice about their crop growth. Priests from both genders can be ordained. # Aspect of Healing - The priests of the Aspect of Healing are trained to simply heal any physical ailments they come across. Some learn to be surgeons while others deal with infectious disease while yet others try to research more about the human body and different healing techniques. These priests are very active in travel with very few staying at their home church (though those that do are very active in the research department). Both female and male priests can be ordained. # Aspect of War - The priests who learn the arts of war and strategy. These priests the hardiest of the orders breeding strong warriors. This the only order where the death during training is quite a real possibility. However those that survive are truly great warriors. The goal of this order is to defend the church against it's enemies and protect other priests on their travels. The Saint of this aspect usually has quite a lot of power over the others though the misuse of this power will usually result in the Saint being thrown out from the the Church entirely. Only males can become full ordained priests of this order. # Aspect of Judgment - Involved in making, recording and enforcing the laws of the church and even some countries. They are currently the most powerful of the Aspects because the current High Saint is from there. The priests of this order are taught the laws of every country and how to construct arguments especially in court. The priests of this aspect usually stay more in big city's being quite actively involved in secular politics. A brave few however travel to smaller villages to help with smaller court cases and arguments. Both genders can be ordained. # Aspect of Sailing - # Aspect of Craft - A very popular Aspect among the developing middle class of craftsmen who send their younger children to this Aspect. The priest hear learn different crafts that they then in turn employ to the service of the church. The choice of which craft to specialize in is left up to the individual. These priests are sent to different churches to do things associated with their craft. Those that stay at the their home church become masters of their craft and make the equipment the church gives to their elite. Both genders can be ordained but some crafts are gendered. # Aspect of Learning - Theses priest are the keepers of the Churches and the world's knowledge. Their goals are many fold. First to save and maintain as much knowledge from the days before the Disappearance. Second to record and maintain new works of art, culture and science so that if a new Disappearance were to ever happen much less knowledge would be lost. Third to spread all of this knowledge and make it available to all who seek it. To achieve these goals this Aspect has three different types of priests: Seekers (those that seek out the items/books from the pre Disappearance age), Recorders (those that record/study all things new and old) and finally Teachers (those that travel the world teaching people in areas where there is no public education). Both genders can be ordained. # Aspect of Art -